LSAT 105 | Section 4 | Logical Reasoning: Q14

LR Question 14 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Citizen: Our legislators need to act quickly …

QUESTION TYPE: Necessary Assumption

CONCLUSION: The government should cut taxes for upper-income citizens.

REASONING: It would increase investments and create jobs.

ANALYSIS: The key reasoning is:

Tax cut for upper-income citizens → More investment → More jobs.

But why would giving wealthy people a tax cut necessarily increase investment?

What if they simply spend it on a yacht or a vacation to the Maldives? If they simply spend it, save it under a mattress, or use it in ways unrelated to investment, then there wouldn’t be more investment and there wouldn’t be more jobs.

So the argument assumes that upper-income citizens will use their extra money in ways that actually generate investment.

___________

1. The citizen only says unemployment is the highest ever. Even if this isn’t the worst recession in history, the argument for a tax cut could still go through.
   Negation: This recession is not the worst one ever.
2. The argument doesn’t require a relationship between the size of the tax cut and the likelihood of investment. Even a fixed likelihood of investment could support the argument.
   Negation: It is not the case that the greater the tax cut, the more likely people are to invest the money.
3. Even if lower-income citizens had invested more historically, the proposed tax cut could still increase investment.
   Negation: The upper class has not invested more money in total than lower classes.
4. CORRECT. This is the assumption we need to get from tax cut to more investment. Without it, the argument has no reason to think the tax cut would create jobs.
   Negation: The upper class would not use the money from the tax cut to increase investment.
5. Historical precedent isn’t necessary. The citizen could be making a prediction about what would happen now even if no similar tax cuts had ever occurred before.
   Negation: Tax cuts for certain groups have not really created new jobs in the past.